Prawn Bisque Pasta with Harissa

An impressive prawn bisque pasta recipe with gorgeous plump king prawns, laced in a luscious bisque-style sauce infused with a heady and spicy harissa paste. 

This incredibly tasty version of a chilli king prawn spaghetti brings together a fusion of flavours from Italy, North Africa and France and is full of warming chilli, aromatic cumin and sweet star anise all blended using the traditional technique seen in the preparation of a flavoursome French bisque. This easy-to-make prawn bisque pasta dish extracts every last tidbit of flavour from the heads and shells down to the sweet and succulent tail meat of each prawn and presents them entwined in a plate of perfectly al-dente spaghetti and finished with a final flourish of a decadent dusting of rich Parmigiano Reggiano.

Inspired by French bisque

The pasta sauce takes inspiration from a classic French bisque, which is one of the most popular seafood soups around the world. 

Named after of the Bay of Biscay where the fishermen would land their catch, originally, this creamy fish soup was created using crustaceans not good enough to sell at market, so they were boiled up and ground down to thicken a broth and served. Because every morsel of the crustacean from the shells to the claws were used, the flavours in the soup were intensified. Seeing that the addition of the ground shells gave such an immense flavour, of course it would only be logical to start elevating quality seafood produce in the same way to create the luxurious varieties we commonly see today including crab, lobster and prawn bisque.

Making traditional bisque into a delicious prawn bisque pasta sauce

Turning a bisque into a pasta sauce, we do want to use the same techniques to extract maximum bisque flavour, but we don’t want to end up with a soup. Even though a seafood bisque is thick and creamy, it would still be too thin to use as a pasta sauce. This is simply rectified by reducing the amount of stock/liquid used in the first place and by also adding further vegetables and ingredients to give the sauce a luscious texture and taste with which to envelop our pasta in. And this is where the fun starts.

What is essentially a chilli king prawn pasta dish, we’ve accentuated the seafood flavours with the French bisque preparation technique by liquidating the shells but for the spice component, there are lots of spicy ingredients we could add. Adding a simple touch of red chilli flakes would be traditional and keep this a very northern Mediterranean affair or we could add sriracha or Szechuan chilli for a more asian twist or even jalapeno or ancho chillis to give a Mexican slant to the pasta. The choices are varied and would create equally flavoursome versions of this chilli king prawn pasta dish. 

A prawn bisque pasta with Middle Eastern warming spices

However, for our added flavour dimension to the spice we want, we’ve opted to use an aromatic harissa chilli paste. One of the main reasons to keep this to purely the Mediterranean is also due to the added vegetables used that we think will complement the bisque best. A traditional bisque will have a base of leeks or onion with carrot and fennel which are then blitzed up with the stock and shells. This medley of vegetables is very common for many seafood dishes of the area and especially stews which will also have added a little citrus in the way of orange as well as red pepper, tomato and a touch of saffron for that perfumed scent and signature yellowish red hue so prevalent in these dishes. This alluring spice is also very prevalent in the Levantine cuisine of the South Mediterranean and North African countries. The warming spices of cumin and star anise that accompany chilli in harissa paste are also excellent pairings for this sublime saffron. The whole mix just balances perfectly on the pallet. It’s almost like a journey of flavours and textures. A French prawn bisque has been enriched with seafood stew vegetables prevalent in the area which in turn allow the sauce to become rich and velvety and a perfect accompaniment to pasta which is then infused with herbs and spices which they themselves complement each aspect of the dish in their unique way. Here we have it, an original and flavoursome dish: a harissa chilli king prawn bisque pasta.

How to make our prawn bisque pasta

The preparation is not difficult and doesn’t take much time either. You will need a high-speed blender though to liquidize the shells. Otherwise, you will need to remove the shells from the sauce before blending with an ordinary or stick blender.

We start with the prawns, and you can use any shell-on variety of your choice. The larger, the more expensive but ultimately the more luxurious. Generally, you will find very good quality shell-on king prawns or jumbo prawns in the frozen aisle.

Once defrosted, place the whole prawns in a frying pan and gently heat them up in a little olive oil for only a matter of minutes until the shells are pink and the flesh white and opaque. Reserve one prawn per dish to keep the shell-on to garnish the dish and give it that lavish look. The rest of the prawns need to be de-shelled with the shells reserved for the sauce and the digestive tracts need to be removed from all the prawns. This is done by running a sharp knife down the back of each prawn to expose the black vein-like tract which can then be easily pulled out. 

Once the prawns and their shells have been set aside, use the same pan and add a little more olive oil and a knob of butter to fry the base vegetables. Rather than using a classic mirepoix which is onions, carrots and celery, we use leeks instead of onion for a subtler flavour, (although onion works fine) carrots still for sweetness and fennel instead of celery which imparts a wonderful aniseed flavour that compliments seafood, which is why it is used in so many classic fish soups and stews of the Mediterranean. Of course, we add the obligatory garlic as well but only after the vegetables have been lightly sauteed to bring out their sweetness.

Harissa and saffron - a delicious combination

The next ingredients to add are the fusion aspects which bring the north Mediterranean flavours together with the south Mediterranean flavours. First stir in some harissa paste, we use a classic version, however, you can substitute it with rose harissa paste which adds an oriental floral perfumed profile and perhaps gives a little bit more of a Persian influence to the finished dish. This is added with a little orange juice and a few strands of saffron. The colours deepen with beautiful golden orange hues and the scent of sweetness, perfumed saffron and warm aromatics start to intensify. 

Once the orange juice has almost reduced totally, we add a little fish or prawn stock, some quality tomato passata or finely crushed tomatoes and some roasted red peppers courtesy of a jar along with all the reserved prawn heads and shells. This then simply simmers to bring all the flavours together for about twelve minutes or so. The mix will look more devoid of liquid than you may imagine, but when blended in a high-speed blender the consistency created is perfectly saucy. 

Blend the shells into a velvety pasta sauce

Leave it to cool before liquidising it, shells and all in a good blender. You can, once smooth, simply transfer it back to a pan to heat up but there will be tiny fragments of shell left that you ideally want to remove. This is done by passing it through a sieve ladle by ladle and using the back of the ladle to rub the sauce through the tiny holes. This is a little fiddly but worth the extra effort to create the most beautiful velvety sweet and earthily spicy pasta sauce.

This is the sauce done. All that is left is to cook the pasta and build the dish with the prawns and serve. 

For the pasta, always ensure that you bring a large pan of heavily salted water to a boil before adding the pasta. Dried linguine or spaghetti will be al-dente in approximately 9 minutes. Once boiled, drain and reserve a little of the salty water.

How to serve

To heat the sauce again, use a larger frying pan with a larger surface area. This is easier to add the pasta into and easier to combine thoroughly. Once bubbling, add the pasta to the sauce and stir-fry adding a little of the salty water if necessary. To not overcook the prawns, these are added at the last minute (including the shell-on prawns) so that they just reheat rather than cook more. Once done, transfer equally between bowls and place the shell-on prawns on top. Garnish with a little fresh oregano, thyme and parsley as they have a more aromatic and hardy nature to highlight the Levantine fusion than the classic basil you would expect to see. However, the final flourish is of course a liberal dusting of Parmigiano reggiano.

More seafood recipes

Italian Seafood Stew - Impressive + Easy Recipe
Fish Quesadilla (Loaded with Fish and Seafood)
Lobster Benedict with Chipotle Hollandaise Sauce

Latest recipes

Prawn bisque pasta recipe

An impressive prawn bisque pasta recipe with gorgeous plump king prawns, laced in a luscious bisque-style sauce infused with a heady and spicy harissa paste.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Dinner Party, Main Course

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 10 defrosted shell-on raw King Prawns or Jumbo Prawns
• 40 g chopped leek
• 80 g chopped carrot
• 120 g chopped fennel
• 1 clove of garlic finely diced
• 1 tablespoon of harissa paste
• 80 ml of orange juice
• pinch of saffron
• 200 ml of tomato passata
• 1 chopped cooked red pepper (from a jar)
• 400 ml of fish stock or prawn stock
• 150 g of spaghetti or linguine
• Fresh oregano or thyme and parsley
• Serve with grated parmesan

Instructions

 

• Drizzle a little olive oil in a frying pan and bring to medium heat. Add the defrosted shell-on king prawns or jumbo prawns and gently cook for 3-4 minutes or until the shells have turned pink and opaque. Remove the prawns and set aside to cool.
• Reserve 2 whole shell-on prawns and remove the heads and shells from the rest of the prawns keeping the prawns and shells separate. Run a sharp knife down the back of each prawn (including the shell-on prawns) and remove and discard the digestive tract.
• Place the pan back on the heat and add the chopped leek, carrot and fennel. Fry for 7-8 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and fry for further 2 minutes.
• Stir in a tablespoon of Harissa paste and add the orange juice and pinch of saffron. Reduce the orange juice until almost dry. Add the passata, red pepper, fish stock and the reserved shells and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
• Transfer the contents of the pan, including the shells, to a high-speed blender and process until completely smooth. Pour the contents back into the pan passing it through a sieve using the back of a ladle to help it through.
• Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta for 9 minutes. Drain and set aside reserving a little water.
• Bring the sauce pan back up to a simmer and add the pasta and herbs and stir. Add the de-shelled prawns and cook for up to another minute until the prawns are re-heated.
• Divide between 2 pasta bowls and present with a whole shell-on king prawn on top with a garnishing of fresh oregano and grated parmesan.